Act for workers in Budget, TUC urges Healey

USE the Budget to deliver for workers across the country, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak told Chancellor John Healey today. He made the call as job vacancies fell, even as the headline rate of unemp

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He made the call as job vacancies fell, even as the headline rate of unemployment also dropped.

Mr Healey has made it clear that whatever he may do in next week’s Budget, it will not include increasing the rate of capital gains tax, as demanded by several Cabinet members.

Official statistics showed that the unemployment rate fell from 4.9 per cent to 4.7 per cent over the last quarter, with youth unemployment high but also down at 13.2 per cent.

Vacancies fell to 691,000, a decrease of 21,000 on the previous quarter.

Mr Nowak said: “The Chancellor must use the upcoming Budget to deliver for workers in every corner of the country.

“The government has laid the foundations to support more young people into work — and this has to remain a top priority.

“Expanding the Jobs Guarantee will give more young people the leg up they need in the jobs market, offering them vital experience of paid work.

“A small fall in unemployment, including for young people, is a step in the right direction, but the jobs market is still challenging. To deliver a thriving jobs market and boost living standards in the long term, we need sustained gains in growth.

“That’s why it’s time to support households with the cost of living and unleash public investment by releasing the handbrake on our fiscal rules.

“This will help reindustrialise Britain, deliver decent public services and secure good jobs up and down the country.”

However, Treasury briefings indicated that Mr Healey will take no radical action on the fiscal rules next week, and has ruled out increasing the rate of taxation on capital gains at all.

Previously he had dismissed calls to equalise capital gains tax with the rate of income tax, a move advocated by senior Cabinet members, including First Secretary Louise Haigh and Defence Secretary Wes Streeting.

The Chancellor is understood to be fearful of discouraging investment by business, and of risking a flight from the country by the super-rich.

It now seems likely that an enhanced windfall tax on banks will be the only revenue increase to be announced.

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